The Old Overland Cafe Corner Is Coming Back as Two Restaurants. Here's Who's Moving In.

For more than five decades, the building at Overland Avenue and Charnock Road held one restaurant. The Overland Cafe served all-day California food and had a busy brunch crowd, as What Now Los Angeles described it. Eater LA reported the closure in August 2023, after more than 50 years in business.

The building is now being filled by two separate operators. Cafe Starlings is planned for the 3601 S. Overland address. Mee & Greet is taking part of the same building. A third restaurant group is headed for the corner space at Venue, a few addresses up at 3688 Overland. So one diner is becoming three kitchens on a stretch of Overland that Westside Village shares with Palms. Each kitchen is running on its own schedule.

One building, split between two operators

What Now Los Angeles reported in November 2025 that Cafe Starlings is a new concept from Overland Hospitality, Inc. The group had filed paperwork with the Los Angeles City Planning Department, and the cafe is set to use an 875-square-foot space. That's a small footprint, closer in size to a neighborhood coffee bar than to the full-service room the Overland Cafe ran.

Toddrick Allen's local blog covered a second plan for the building in January 2026. Mee & Greet, the Pan-Asian soul food spot, would take over "part of the building that was once occupied by the erstwhile Overland Cafe, on the corner of Overland and Charnock Rd." The same post listed what Mee & Greet is promising for the new space: "food libations, outdoor patio, live music, games on TV, comedy nights, & more."

Put the two plans side by side and the corner looks very different from before. One operator is building a compact cafe. The other is bringing a full restaurant menu plus evening programming. In a single building, the old brunch-centered corner now has plans aimed at both daytime and nighttime.

The people behind each plan

Overland Hospitality is led by president Johnnie Jenkins. What Now notes that he has been general manager at several Los Angeles concepts, including Canal Club, Air Conditioned Supper Club, Venice Beach Wines and Tar & Roses. The same report says the building's new owners want a fresh concept that still honors the space's history. By July 2026, Toddrick Allen was reporting that construction had been "fast and furious" and that a sign with one stylishly lettered word, Starlings, had gone up on the space.

Mee & Greet is already an Overland name. According to Toddrick Allen, it spent 10 years at 3500 Overland before it left. What Now reported that the 3500 Overland location closed on September 29, 2025. Owner Eric Ong told the outlet the full menu of rice plates, noodle bowls, snacks and specials would move to the new address. The move is only a few blocks, from one Overland address to another.

Up the block, IKI is bringing two of its restaurants under one roof

The third kitchen is at Venue, the apartment development at 3664 to 3688 Overland at Keystone. Urbanize LA described the project as two buildings, one eight stories and one five, with 205 apartments and 3,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.

In October 2026, What Now Los Angeles reported that IKI Nori, a hand roll and sushi bar now at 6464 Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, plans to open in Venue's corner space. IKI Nori is run by IKI Hospitality, which also operates IKI Ramen + Sushi, AKAMI Sushi and Padi Indonesian. Founder and master sommelier Jeffry Undiarto told What Now the team is aiming for "next year, maybe at quarter one or two."

IKI has never put both of its main concepts in one space before, and that's what makes the Venue location stand out. "It gives us room to do something we haven't done before: IKI Ramen + Sushi and IKI Nori together," Undiarto told What Now. "You can come for a casual bowl of ramen or sit at the hand roll bar." He told the outlet the group picked the location to be closer to guests. "Since we opened IKI Ramen in 2018, a lot of our regulars have been from the Westside. So we decided to bring IKI closer to them."

So a restaurant group based in Hollywood has chosen this stretch of Overland for its first combined location. The new places also join an established group of neighbors. What Now's Cafe Starlings report names n/naka, The Little Marionette and The Doughroom as nearby restaurants in what it calls the Overland District.

The posted timelines, in order

The forecasts each business has shared, by the date each was made:

• November 2025: Cafe Starlings is in planning at 3601 S. Overland, with no opening date announced.
• December 2025: Eric Ong tells What Now he expects Mee & Greet's new space to be ready "sometime between late January and early February."
• 2026, on Mee & Greet's own site: The restaurant points to a "new permanent home (late spring 2026)" in the former Overland Cafe building and invites followers to message it about neighborhood preview events.
• July 2026: "Starlings" signage goes up as construction continues.
• October 2026: IKI targets the first or second quarter of 2027 at Venue.

Each target is a few months later than the one before it, and the three businesses aren't on a shared timeline.

The grocery moves follow the same pattern

Two grocery stores near the neighborhood are going through the same kind of turnover. The Whole Foods at 11666 National Blvd., near the 405, closed on October 13, 2025, as the Santa Monica Mirror reported. Whole Foods is converting the former Albertsons building at 3443 S. Sepulveda Blvd. into a new store. Yo! Venice reported that a store employee expected a September 2026 opening.

The old National Blvd. building is going to Lazy Acres Natural Market, a Santa Barbara grocer founded in 1991. This will be its seventh Southern California store and its first on the Westside. Lazy Acres' announcement from October 2025 said construction would begin in January and the store would "very likely open in Fall 2026," timed to the grocer's 35th anniversary celebration. The company posts updates through an email list and on Instagram at @lazyacresmarket.

Taken with the Overland plans, that makes five storefronts in this part of the Westside changing hands, each one on its own posted target date.

Where these kitchens post updates

One of these menus also has a home away from Overland. Mee & Greet's website lists dine-in at Humble Potato, 12608 W. Washington Blvd., and lists its phone as 310.881.9498. The site also thanks "Palms & West LA" for being part of its story, and it says to follow @meeandgreet on Instagram for preview events at the new space.

For IKI, the current Hollywood location of IKI Nori is at 6464 Sunset Blvd. The group posts updates on Instagram at @ikinorisushi. Cafe Starlings uses the Instagram handle @cafestarlings.

If you live near Overland and Charnock, new restaurants on your blocks change how your home fits into the area around it. Lauren Morelli watches these Overland changes alongside the sales data. If you'd like to see where your home stands as this stretch fills in, ask for a free home valuation.